The Silver Fox

Time 2020-11-01 17:06:00

Web Name: The Silver Fox

WebSite: http://www.ascentofelegance.com

ID:101657

Keywords:

The,Silver,Fox,

Description:

South is a perfume Ihave fallen in love with slowly. I liked its eccentric attempt to suggest asouthern Mediterranean mix of freshly baked bread and shattered nuts against aground of white flowers and bright white washed linen drying in the sun. Butwhen I first tried it, something didn t quite click, my skin felt ill-fitted,but now it feels perfect, that expanse of white musk backdrop and scattered landscapeof flowers, woods and carroty powder. Sogno Reale (Image TSF)These includeParis-based Amélie Bourgeois and Ann-Sophie Behaghel at Flair whose diverse andconstantly evolving work across a pretty impressive roster of niche brand namesis always fascinating to sample and wear. They seem to have an innate abilityto work symbiotically with clients either as a duo or individually and theperfumes are vibrant, controlled and often just that little bit more leftfield.Ann-Sophie Behaghel Amélie Bourgeoisof Flair Paris.Their perfumes for Liquides Imaginaries, Æther, Jovoy and Room 101 for exampleshowcase imaginative perfumery with a clear head and a beatingsensuous heart.Osang was a more mysterious proposition, a truly astonishingodiferous thing, but in many ways this was Stefania s homecoming, herpassionate and mysterious hymn to the city that created her, Napoli. Afterliving in France for a while, she decided to return to Naples and Osang, the sanguineous tribute to themiracle of San Gennaro and his sanctified, resurrected blood was an all tooperfect subject for her Neapolitan return. Osang (Image TSF)Osang s theme of miracles and transmutation makes for ratherextraordinary perfume storytelling. The call to liquefaction of San Gennaro ssacred blood, coagulated and stored in crystal reliquaries is a hugely symbolicceremony that takes place three times a year. Religious or not itis hard to deny the glittering eccentricity and fervent adherence to somethingthat on the surface seems like madness: a ancient saint s blood liquefying inthe presence of his gold-plated skull while the faithful chant his name. Moreoften than not the miracle is secured, San Gennaro s blood flows and the whitehandkerchief is raised to signal success. Neapolitans are born superstitious;numbers, lotto, charms, trinkets etc and they believe if the blood stays solidinside the arcas, bad luck and even disaster will befall the city and itsinhabitants. Living as they do in the shadow of rumbling stratovolcano MountVesuvius, their fears and superstitions have a haunting logic. Osang (Image TSF)Osang was something very different from the heart and mind ofStefania Squeglia, a more brutal and ritualistic scent, a perfume that smelledraw and burned; a high concentration of fenugreek absolute clashed withpyrazines, honey, herbs, meadow flowers and a weird after scent of disruptedstorm air. The mix of sweet altar and charred aftermath with a whiff ofvolcanic drift was divisive. How could it be not? All the most beautiful andchallenging things usually are. Stefania withheld the name of the perfumersaying only that it had been created by Napoliand its Huge Hope. Part of me senses her physical hand at work in Osang; it smells reckless and beautifulenough to be true. The launch of Osang also coincided with a decision byStefania to split her original Mendittorosa line in two with the duo of North and South and the trilogy of Alfa,Omega and Id remaining as Mendittorosa Odori D Anima and Le Mat, Sogno Reale, Nettuno and Osang forming a new collection entitled Talismans CollezionePreziosa. I was very kindly invited by Stefania to create text for this phaseof her evolution, creating language both for Osang and also for the Talismans creations, separating their uniqueidentities out from the Mendittorosa mothership. This was a commission thatbrought me great joy, allowing me to really flex my linguistic skills andimagination. The first Osang flacon was beautiful. A simpleglass bottle but topped in a bespoke Capodimonte cap designed by sororal Naplesartisans Nada for Nada that echoedecclesiastical mitres. Drops of red sealing wax speckled the glass, symbolisingSan Gennaro s blood. I actually gasped when my bottle arrived in the post,asleep in the new luxurious style boxes like a jewel. The original idea was alimited edition run but Osang willnow continue to be very much a part of the Talismans universe, but each newedition will showcase a new cap.Osang NewEditionImage from Mendittorosa/Talismans(digitally altered by TSF)The second one has only recently launched with a gorgeous gold cap again with a mitre echo but this time more armoured and defensive, the blood reflectedin the crimson-coloured tassel that adorns the bottle. It also resembles thecupola dome of a renaissance church, the holes echoing windows cut, allowinglight to stream down like holy rays on the faithful below. Stefania launched Osang at Esxence 2017 alongside Rituale and Archetipo, two new additions to the Odori D Anima universe and thebeginning of a concept called TimeWithout Time. The pair was well received in Milan with lots of buzz frombloggers and visitors. Again exquisitely designed flacons with handmade caps ofswirling metal tendrils like spaghetti, knots, roots or neural pathways. AmélieBourgeois signed off Rituale andItaliano wonderboy Luca Maffei, one of the busiest independent perfumers aroundjust now has signed off Archetipo,his first composition for Stefania and Mendittorosa. Archetipo (Image TSF)It was at Esxencethat Stefania finally revealed the emotive and personal origins of theMendittorosa name. She had with her an identity card for her gracious grandmotherRosa Menditto.Digital image TSFHence MendittorosaOdori D Anima translates quite simply and beautifully as scents of the soul and references her matrilineal heritage,which goes to the very heart of what Stefania is doing with her brand, creatingperfumes that connect to us on a more profound emotional level.So much ofStefania s curiosities and raptures are poured into the collaborations withperfumers, the symbiosis has to date produced some of the more original andexciting work in the niche sector.Archetipo Rituale (Image TSF)Rituale and Archetipo areamong the best perfumes she has created, a quietly beguiling and shadowed duoof guttering flames, ritual, repetition and reflection. Amélie and Luca havebrought the full force of their artistic olfactive talents to bear onStefania s complex briefs. The results are unique. The duo reflect and repel,stand alone and crave one another. I hear whispers of a third creation to jointhem in early 2018 so I await its arrival with great interest. I think Rituale has nudged Amélie outside of herFlair comfort zone. The red berry harvest and bloody glitter of pomegranatecould potentially have been messy and fruitchouli-ish; all pomegranate-stainedfragrances run the risk of echoing Jo Malone s behemoth oriental Pomegranate Noir, but Amélie is far toogifted a perfumer for that. There is still the subtlest of Pomegranate Noir flashes as Rituale rushes from the bottle, butthis is quickly picked up, soothed and altered as the perfume develops intosomething more complex and unusual. Rituale by Mendittorosa Odori D'Anima(Image TSF)impressions of Rituale are of using aknife moulded from rose petals to cut gently through the heart fruit ofAmélie s pomegranate, a mix of resistant skin and oozing sanguineousfascinating seeds. If you re a fan of these remarkable fruits, you will knowthe earthy, tannic scented juice stains like hell. My chopping boards haveterrifying stains running through them. I have a pomegranate tattoo on my rightcalf with six seeds falling like red tears; this is to echo the myth of Hadesand Persephone I was told as a child by my mother and never forgot. Hades,desirous of Demeter s wild and understandably reluctant daughter Persephone tobe his underground bride, offers her a pomegranate. She consumes six seeds,thus committing herself to six months above ground, spring and summer and sixbelow, autumn and winter. The tendency is toerr on the side of jammy, compote-scented aromas, the natural tartness andvibrancy of the berry scent lost in sweetness. Not in Rituale. The sudden loveliness of torn rose petals and cut piquantfruit is quite different. This intriguing opening is then washed in aldehydes, greengauze flickers at the senses, just enough to register interference but stillelegant enough to raise a ghost of vintage veils and rubbed moth wings.The trilogy of rose,jasmine and narcissus that Amélie has arranged so delicately as the floralcentrepiece of Rituale glows withcareful, almost reverential lustre. Jasmine and druggy narcissus can t help butstand out against the red. If you imagine walking into a white room filled withwhite blooms and someone has hurled crimson paint across one wall, red dropletsfalling on scattered snowy petals. Red Room II (Image TSF)Interestingly thehead notes seem to sink down into the central section, particularly a lovelyon-the-tongue pith and peel mandarin note and some lavender that feels likefinely ground paint pigment needing only oil to explode the hue. I barelynoticed it on the blotter, but skin heat intensifies my beloved beeswax, and suddenlyyou realise it was always there, a honeyed unguent to work slowly into tiredinviting flesh, easing away memories. Once I sensed the beeswax amid the décorof fruit, aldehydes and musks I realise I was more than a little lost to therituals of Rituale. Rituale (Image TSF)base-ish note, warmed carefully over patchouli, cedarwood, amberwood,crystalline musks and a studied dose of hyraceum, a fascinating material,sometimes called African or Golden Stone that has become more frequently usedin perfumes of late to impart a sense of dangerous animalism, a whiff of recoiland perverse desire. Used well and with skill it has an unparalleled effect, aninvitation to dirty surrender, the suggestion that under all beauty there isalways the odour of instinct and pelt. Amélie has alreadyused it superlatively in Sogno Realefor Stefania s Talismans Collezione Preziosa, creating something genuinelyoriginal and compelling in her imagined sea urchin leather, a briny collisionof citrus, amber, smoke, rum, woods and a drowning tuberose. In some ways Rituale is a companion piece to Sogno Reale in the way that the hyraceumappears lighter, more malleable in tone; a wash of effect as apposed to anopaque smear. As Rituale blooms, those fruit notes flowover the skin and become lucid and restful. I am not normally a big fan of redfruit notes in perfumery. My initial reaction to the Time Drops sample of Ritualeas Stefania is calling them was a little wobbly because of the berriliciouspomegranate strain. But any sense of familiarity becomes soothed into absorbingoriginality. More often than not, these fruity sparkled perfumes eitherstructurally disintegrate as they unfurl, any sense of charm dashed on dullsynthetic patchouli and cashmeran shores. Or the fruit becomes like a high-pitchedneon scream and slaps your eyes and blood vessels into submission untilmigraine knocks you out. Amélie doessomething interesting with the red fruit concept, under-painting it with amineralised ground of white musks and synth ambers. If you could x-ray Rituale I imagine these notes appearinglike washes of brush strokes beneath the flush of red-stain. This is animportant technique as it prevents any sugared bleed into the narcissus andjasmine that over time on skin travel from starkly lit against glass tocollapsed and melancholic. Rituale isbeautiful perfume assembly and I would expect nothing less from Stefania andAmélie; an aromatic conversation between two women of time passing, notesshifting and evolving into an assuaged and hallowed sanctum.Rituale (Image TSF)Rituale suggests a profound sense of ritual,ceremony and observance; the daily routines we use and enact to protect andreassure ourselves. All of the Menditterosa and Talismans are religiouslyunisex in their conception and execution. However for the first time I do sensefissures in Stefania s rigid code. This is not a criticism at all, merely anobservation. When two perfumes are released like this side by side with noprecise common ground, the senses search for comprehension. I am aware ofStefania s nebulous Time Without Timeproject title but it doesn t hold me quickly enough for now. Rituale is the first Mendittorosaperfume to have a suggestion of feminine form, a skeletal whisper movingbeneath the quiescent layers of musky fruit and decaying aldehydes. A drift ofblushing vestals in a mineral temple. I got to thinkingthis mineral weather has actually always been a sympathetic gauze in the Mendittorosacanon. I returned to my collection and sampled everything and of course I maware that between Stefania and Amélie and Anne-Sophie at Flair there has overtime developed a signature of sorts. But Osangand Archetipo are different and beara heavier weight from the olfactive memory and wants of Stefania. Whether ornot she is overtly aware of it her obsessive connection to Stromboli rumbles throughthe entire œuvre to varying degrees. Time Drops: Rituale Archetipo samples...(Image TSF) I changed my life to create MendittorosaOdori d Anima. Mendittorosa Odori d Anima is my way, my life, my real soul. Iwas in a special place when I finally decided to open this magic chapter of mylife, that place is Stromboli, a volcano, which is still alive. Ablacklava mountain 1000 metres above the sea and 2000 down. My symbol. My muse. Myamulet. My Stromboli. My Iddu*. A new Energy Baptism. I hope this pure energywill reach you now. Stefania Squeglia(From Menditterosa website) *(Iddu is thevernacular Sicilian name for the still active volcano, it translates as He ) It s just a theorybut I ve spent a lot of time with Stefania s perfumes, looking closely atstyles, moods, flow, flaws, inspirations and the creative processes. She hasfire in her, Stefania, her hair, red like flowing lava and like any artist sheis unpredictable. Id created withAmélie Bourgeois in 2012 is key to the mineral taint that shadows Stefania solfactory imagination. There is a generous overdose of sticky cistus orlabdanum in Id lying uncomfortablyunder a bleak bouquet of iris, violet and carnation that while suggestingpowder actually falls like ash on skin. Oud, birch, patchouli and musks areburn and smoke, cinders dampened in the rain of ambroxan. Other notes includingjasmine, campheraceous Ravensara and the sweet dust of cinnamon add ambitioustexture to the overall isolated difference of Id. It smells alone and strong, chthonic and granular. This is theodour of her sacred place, the black sand, the fire, a scent of sulphur in theair, the smell of surrounding sea as you travel to and from the island. Nettuno (Image TSF)Nettuno, Le Mat, Osang andnow Rituale and Archetipo share this same genetic timbre to varying degrees. Infact getting louder as the line has progressed. As if Stefania needs tohear/smell something in the perfumes as they evolve, something that constantlyloops back to Stromboli where her dream began. After splitting theline into Menditterosa Odori D Anima and Talismans Preziosa, the perfumes areevolving in elegant and subtly different ways, the psychology of Talismansintimately involved with the creation of olfactive phylactery, molecularamulets and nature we wear next to skin. While the Mendittorosa perfumes lookinward, taking an abstracted journey of soul and cerebral observance, the bodyas temple, the mind as refuge. Ritualeand Archetipo are devout apostles toStefania s Mendittorosa cause, each of them bringing new and darker elementsthat serve to deepen the profundity of the line. Luca MaffeiI am strangelypleased that Luca Maffei has worked with Stefania; I m aware of how seeminglyubiquitous he seems right now in terms of Euro niche but what you have toremember is that the perfume will be intrinsically more intriguing if therelationship between nose and client is strong and founded on trust. If not,meh, it is mere transaction. Luca s work with Gabriella Chieffo for instance isbeautiful and innovative. You get a real sense of artistic discussion andfreedom of interpretation. The same goes for his exceptional portrait of iris, L Attesa, he made for Alessandro Brunand Riccardo Tedeschi at Masque Milano. There is a huge sense of sensualliberation and joy in L Attesa,throwing open the doors to gilded ballrooms and hurling bottles of fizzinggold-flecked champagne to the floor.Foxy's MyLo (Image TSF)and Nun for Laboratorio Olfattivo areanother example of Luca matching his skills to a relatively low-key house thatprides itself on atmospheric and truthful compositions. MyLo is a Polaroid snap of white lilies, just slightly out offocus, but captured perfectly in all their ivory, analogue beauty. Archetype. Original pattern from which copies are made from Latin archetypum an original Greek Archétypon a model, pattern.1 The originalpattern or model from which all things of the same kind based on or copiedfrom; a model; first form; prototype. 2 In JungianPsychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic image that is derivedfrom the past collective experience of humanity and is present in theunconscious mind of the individual. Also called imago. These archetypal imagesrise out of the collective unconscious and appear in dreams, mythology and fairytales. (Adapted from theDictionary.com definition of archetype)Archetipo by Mendittorosa Odori D'Anima(Image TSF)Luca is a workaholicperfumer and someone I think who prides himself on approaching each commissionas an opportunity to try something original or improve on a theme or conceptthat perhaps didn t quite succeed as he would have liked the first time round.He is boyish enough in demeanour to pass for someone younger but it would amistake to consider him anything other than an acutely aware and stylishperfumer with something of a playboy s touch to his work but also a seriousdedication to the machinations and craft of classical perfumery. He is the headperfumer at Atelier Fragranze Milano, a company founder by Luca s father Marcoand perfumer Maurizio Cerizzo and the lab is professionally very busy and veryhighly regarded within the niche perfume world.On paper, despitethe obvious Italian connection and the fact that Luca has created work fornearly all the niche Italian houses, I wondered what exactly the collaborativerendezvous of Luca X Stefania wouldbring to Mendittorosa. Now after Architepohas launched and I can t stop wearing it, I realise that a great scent hasarisen from the meeting of two quite different temperaments. Emotion vs. logic, dream vs. reality. Shadow vs. light. Archetipo is so beautiful and strange, I find wearing it bothtender and savage. It has elements of booming distance and intimate embrace, aperfume of reflection and recoil. Archetipo cap (Image TSF)At the heart of Archetipo are two reflective accords thatLuca and Stefania are calling BurningFlame and Moonstone. These evocativetitles might sound a little highfalutin but actually they are perfectly incontext within the themes and atmospheric mood of the perfume. As I set outabove, Archetipo translates asArchetype, a word loaded with multiple meanings, many of which are reflected inflickering ways in Luca s vividly shadowed formulation. An important leitmotifin Architepo is Plato s Allegory OfThe Cave or Plato s Cave Myth as it is sometimes referred to, dealing with the effect of education and the lack of iton our nature . It was drummed into my head at university by a Russianlecturer who felt anyone studying Russia and the Russian Revolution had tounderstand it. I had to remind myself of the finer details, it has been a longtime since Foxy s uni-days. I found an elegantly written explanation by astudent called Anam Lohdi, which lays out Plato s ideas cogently and wisely. Soplease do read it if you want a more comprehensive version. The Allegory Of TheCave opens Book VII of Plato s Republic and is written as a dialogue betweenSocrates (Plato s mentor) and Glaucas, a brother of Plato. Socrates describes agroup of people raised from birth in the cave, shackled behind a raised wall,unable to move to the left or the right and or to see the people next to them. Theycan only see dead ahead at the cave wall in front of them. Behind the wall afire has been lit and between the fire and the reverse of the wall, people passby holding up objects, models of animals and such like, all these castingexaggerated shadows on the cave wall like a cinema screen. The bound cavedwellers, having no reference points for what they are seeing have no notionthey are seeing shadows and reflections and instead interpret the parade ofpresented forms as reality. It becomes a state of normality; they believe whatthey see to be true.Socrates then supposesa prisoner manages to escape but is nearly blinded by the light of the fire. Onhis own, disorientated and angry he would turn back to what he knew and thefamiliarity of shadowed forms on the wall. But then Socrates supposes anotherscenario where the prisoner is reluctantly made to adapt to firelight and isthen ascended toward the brighter light of day outside the cave. All this seemslike torture, but slowly, looking at reflections of things and people in waterand the strangeness of moonlight is he able to look at the sun and know what itThis revelation issomething he knows he must take back to the cave and share with the prisonershe left behind. Entering the cave he would realise he has lost hisdark-adaption and is blind. The paranoid prisoners would believe this is due tohis exposure to the world outside the cave and decide they would not make thesame journey as him. Socrates infers that if the shackled prisoners were ableto move they might kill anyone who tried to remove them from the safety of thecave. It is a much-debateddialogue and a fascinating one, examining the movement/journey from darkness tolight, ignorance to enlightenment, the stages of education and resistance.Theoretically we all have the capacity to learn, but do we all possess theactual desire to do so? The prisoner does not enjoy the journey toward thelight/knowledge, but the final result and awareness make the difficulty worthit. It was necessary to expect resistance. From shadows on the wall to flamelight, light of day, reflections and the direct luminescence of the sun itself;all these are stages of education, resistance toward acceptance. We must therefore supposethat once awareness of the cave shadows are mere illusions, crude reflectionsof reality, there really is no returning to an original shackled state untiltotal comprehension has been reached. The truth you saw before was an illusioncreated for you by others and now you must decide for yourself what is real andwhat is not. For the shackled prisoners, still staring face forward, ignoranceis a determined bliss. They find safety in the obeisance of illusion becausethey know of nothing else.This allegory, whilecomplex, if you think about it is perhaps more relevant now than ever. TheTrump administration, Theresa May s Brexiteers, the UN, North Korea,pharmaceutical companies, newspapers and social media; all these are thepuppeteers brandishing information that so many blindly follow as law, truthand reality. The shadows on the wall are relentless, a constant flow of thingsdesigned to shore up shaky realities to keep the shackles masses subdued. Truthseeking, education and the difficult exposure of reality is not wanted. Onlyone version of truth is acceptable, the one told in shadow play upon the flickeringcave wall. Thank you for havingthe patience to stay with me. There is reason in my unfolding of the Cave Myth;with Archetipo, Stefania had inperfume terms a brief that seemed challengingly abstract in terms of olfactoryinterpretation. Luca however has taken potent elements of Plato s allegory andwoven them through his own world of guttering flames, flickering shadows andthe dirty, earthen scent of illusion. Archetipo Rituale (Image TSF)Each time I wear Archetipo I get the same vivid sensationfrom the overture of gunpowder and snapped raw pea shells, fresh green tea anda beguiling metallic effect. Not a ferrous taste as such, but the sensation ofbeing in a tunnel made of bright hammered tin. Then something electrical, aburnt out plug or dust burning off a light bulb as it is switched on for the firsttime in a while. All the while, everything plays out over that mineralisedground and the scent of firestones. It is quite the mix of sensations, but onethat works for the simple reason that the materials are sublime and Lucadeliberately wants this jarring slide show of sensations to infect us withexcitement and just enough unease to echo that parade of manipulated shadows inthe shuddering light of the cave.Incense SuperEssence, vetiver (a note that Luca really understands) and a forest-smoky firbalsam stagger the senses initially, making quite the pagan fire firstimpression. I have some fir balsam essential oil in fractionated coconut oilthat the lovely John Biebel sent me and I can really smell the almostdry-sizzle of back bacon and peacock bluegreen medicinal vapours I noted when Iwore his sample. Fir balsam will forever be associated with Norne, the odour that sent me spirallingdown the Slumberhouse rabbit hole at the mercy of Josh Lobb s mercurial anddarkly seductive talent. His scent of decaying fairytale cottages in malevolenttowering Nordic pine forests, being slowly devoured by roots, mould amid theechoes of death metal music is still one of the most arresting compositions. Rituale Archetipo chez Foxy...(Image TSF)Luca Maffei is,along with a handful of other smart niche noses, very busy and professional inhis approach to perfume briefs and their subsequent development. The team atAtelier Fragranze Milano, including his wonderful evaluator Brandusa Paulescuare meticulously organised in their support of his formulations and processes.2017 may have seen a lot of his work launched onto the market, but we also sawa lot of perfumes from Cécile Zarokian, Amélie Bourgeois, Mark Buxton, DaphneBugney, Bertrand Duchaufour, Yann Vasnier and Alberto Morillas so that point ismoot. I am huge devotee of Luca s work and have followed his progress since hisearliest days as a creator. I have a number of Luca s compositions in mycollections and really like his style. His gift, for want of a better word, istaking the highest quality of fragrance materials and fixing them likegemstones into settings of splendour and discrete luxury. There is no sense ofovert theatricality or wasted time. This is something he shares with CécileZarokian. They have different signatures, Cécile using couture methodology,assembling and draping her materials closely to skin and adding exquisitedetail, the olfactive broderie and reflective pearls, in order to produceperfumes that smell flawless and flow on skin with liquid grace. Luca is moreinstinctual I think, building work with materials he is familiar with and thenadding an architectural detail that inhaled from the skin by different peopleat different times will completely alter the perception and olfactive appearance of the perfume. Thediscomforting saline seaweed of Acquasalaand seared concrete fig distortion of Maisìafor Gabriella Chieffo are sensational.Ragu by Gabriella Chieffo (Image TSF)it will always be a perfume I remember as utterly beautiful. Smelling it forthe first time was such a revelation; the dry rubbed oregano and basil effects,pepper, sweet simmering pomodoro mood as my friend Jakub might say and an outrageous dose ofcashmeran. Every time I wear it, I marvel at its resinous souvenir strangeness.The Maffei point of difference I think is taking a risk in using somethingunusual to create sensual attention within his creations. Archetipo is the shadow cast by Rituale,the luminescence of Amélie s fizzing fruit-strewn chambers glittering withgolden aldehydes eroded by a darkness that flickers through with flame-cast odoursand an ambience of damp cave claustrophobia/melancholia. They reflect andabsorb one another with exquisite grace. Light, time passing and umbra. I wearthem separately and they are of course beautiful and wild with individualinsistence and allure. But I wear them together all the time especially atnight. Rituale over Archetipo and Archetipo over Rituale; thesequence determines differing nuance. I m not the biggest advocate of layeringperfumes. Occasionally it works, but you really need to understand what you rewearing. Some folk are just naturally very good at it and instinctively able tocombine their fragrances either in layers or on different parts of the body,projecting a complex and vibrant skin portrait of odour. Rituale and Archetiposeem drawn together, almost despite themselves as two halves of a troubledheart; one side tenebrous and veiled, the other white and calm. The cave allegory Idiscussed earlier is a disturbing journey when you imagine how Stefania andLuca turned this philosophical treatise into odiferous motif inspiration withinArchetipo. When you read Plato sallegory it is impossible to shake the image of flame and shadows cast on thecave wall from your mind. I had this concept in my head for weeks; only beingable to see projections and distortions of reality but unaware of any deliberateattempt to mislead or cruelly induce a false sense of perverted truth, Plato scave dwellers believe their world is the cave wall and shadows. You can ofcourse argue they are safe, even protected in their alternate, given universe,constructing lives (such as they are), language, dreams from what they aregiven or shown. There is no interference, no decisions to be made, noquestioning. The flame serves as light, maker of shadows and conversely themaker of lies. When one person breaks free, it is this light that initiallyblinds them and leads them on a fractious, ever brightening movement into luminescentenlightenment. At the heart of Archetipo is an imago of fire, aritualised dry flame, oscillating in the mind s cave; redolent with an austere desertincense stained in cactus wax and the subtle perfumes of arid stone and mineralweather. Those two mysterious Burning Flame and Moonstone accords are vital tothe Mendittorosa creation of this abstracted Platonic scentscape. Around themswirls a dark and sometimes chaotic perfume of great beauty, lit by tremblingglow and dancing veil. The Burning Flameaccord has been created using SarcocaulonMossamedensis or Bushman s Candle as it is often called, a shrubbysucculent, and native to South Africa. A spined, Bonsai-type thing, it isseriously xerophytic and has adapted extreme ways of survival in the harsh andscouring conditions of its habitat. S.mossamedensis produces a translucent wax coating over its stems thatprotect the plant from moisture loss and external damage from wind andcorrosive sand. Over time the wax is burnished to a golden brown. The wax isflammable, hence the popular and alternative name for the plant, the waxburning, even if the stems are damp. When dry and ignited, Bushman s Candle hasa unique wintered sweet incense odour that is quite powerful.Mane SA the Frenchfragrance and flavour manufacturer, is one of the only suppliers of Bushman sCandle essential oil. Interestingly at Esxence in 2013, a young Mane perfumercalled Alexander Lee showcased a fragrance called ETOILEGANCE, with Bushman s Candle at the heart of his creation,allied to rum, iris, osmanthus, tagete and Davana. The originality of hiscreation won Alexander The Scent ofEsxence Award. It is this unique arid fume that Luca places at the heart ofArchetipo, his Platonic flame,casting shadows in a cave of lost dreams.A fundamentalmessage of Stefania s perfumed œuvre has been one of self-exploration and theacceptance of what we are. Perfume will always struggle to be accepted as aserious communicative art form, but there is no reason why the combination ofmaterials, inspiration, art direction and collaborative perfumer cannot producework that is not only beautiful in many ways to so many of us but can also askcomplex questions of our senses and skin. If our flesh be canvas and perfumethe medium, the inhalation and gazeif you will, should be extraordinary. We don t all wear perfume to challengethe senses all the time, like music, books and cinema we all need relief andsuccour from the strident rigours of daily living. But personally I have becomemore austere in tone and like my scents to have a certain intelligence or atleast a gravitas I can feel leaning toward me through the aromatic haze. My Osang hands...Luca has utilisedthe idea of Plato s cave myth to create a rather unsettling but ultimately verycoercive composition of darker more densely perceived materials such aspatchouli, black amber, sticky labdanum and fir balsam and lit them throughwith his two central accords. These materials in effect become the tremblingshadows played out on the cave wall. I have an image of a cave wall worn smoothover time by mysterious hands; the air smells of damp minerals, like lickingwet river stones. There is a distinctive granular quality to Archetipo, something charred, like smutsof ash and hot sand.This weird moonstonething is more waxen as it appears, quite different in texture and momentum fromthe rest of the arrangement. A single white candle on a cracked marble tableburns slowly down in front of a silvered bloomed mirror. A man sits in front ofthe looking glass, his eyes blind and milky. Everything to him is shadow. Hedreams of a sand-filled cave and a parade of life over a flickering wall. Mirror Moon (Image TSF)This arrestingembrace and contradiction of pace at the heart of this perfume is its emotionalcrux. The chill sense of candles repeatedly lit and extinguished, unseeing eyeswatching rituals unfold. The rush of moist ore and pungent forest fumes. Allthis wreathed in arid incense and a touch of Maffei enigma make Archetipo feel intangible and brutally sensual in places. For me,the opening cold gritty mineral rush is everything. It is rare to genuinelyexperience an initial coldness, like clinging moisture in the air; it feelsforbidding and despite the presence of smoke and flame it remains for me anywaya distant unsettling thing. This makes it sound like I don t like it, but thisisn t true at all, it is in fact very me, sombre, built in shades oftemple-dimmed shadow that wrap around me like a charcoal shroud. As usual whenwriting, I wear the perfumes religiously; in this case the phrase is apt as theduo of Rituale and Archetipo have a solemnity to theirolfactive moods that renders their wearings almost a strange embedded worship,such is the allure and repetitive pull of the notes. It honestly took mea while to fully click into these perfumes; this is one of the reasons why Ioften don t write immediately. The kind of olfactory work I like and admire issometimes challenging and I like to live with it for a while, revisit, and makeobservations and notes. My opinions can evolve as time passes. It is a littlelike meeting someone for the first time and being vaguely irritated but notsure why. You don t want to not see them, but at the same time you find this thing, this unexplained thing difficultto overcome. Time and exposure, familiarity, understanding, questions and patienceoften offer answers and friendship, perhaps love blooms. You might look backand realise that thing...that was the reason you actually fell so hard. Archetipo (Image TSF)I m aware that somepeople don t get the Mendittorosa thing and find the perfumes difficult and I mnot saying this is because I know better. However I appreciate the artistic andolfactive collaborative processes that have been rallied into creating not justthe juice but the packaging, caps, bottles, filmwork and continued aestheticdevelopment of the brand. As I age, I am no longer going to apologise for theway I look, how I feel and my accumulated and quite particular tastes in life.I want more intrigue from the things I experience. One of the most wonderfulthings about writing on smaller niche and artisan houses has been theopportunity to befriend the perfumers and creative directors behind the brands.As the folk that Ihave reviewed are aware my interpretations of perfumes are my own and how theyrise and journey through my senses. Poetry is an obsessive love for me anddecades of reading its forms and abstractions has coloured my thought processeslike in vivo staining. I am a failedpoet at heart I guess and strive in some small way to channel that ache into myessays. In the end it all comes down to personal taste; you like, you don tlike. You can choose to be outraged at the prices and lets face it some sectorsof niche are frankly obscene these days, but people are still buying. I write slow andsure, savouring the pleasure of words, research and assembly. Allying this tointriguing perfumes and processes of talented directors, noses and designersbrings me sweet, strange and meaningfulpleasure. Rituale and Archetipo are a duo of some considerableimpact, emanating from an Italian house at the peak of its storytelling powers.Stefania Squeglia is a woman haunted by volcanic dreams, searching to reconcileskin, heart and soul through the fraught and slippery medium of scent-provokedmemory. It is an ambitious and some might say arch and grandiose calling, butfor those of us that wear the Mendittorosa and Talismans perfumes as one mightwear elegant selvedge garments in monochromatic hues of prayer and supplication,they feel designated. When I wear them Ifeel memorable. This is what I want and indeed require from perfumery. These two newadditions to Stefania s universe are very beautiful and affected me immensely.Not all of you will like them. But some of you will worship them. And that isenough.For more information on Mendittorosa Odori D'Anima and Talismans, please click on the link below:Mendittorosa TheSilverFox I am quicksilver. The fox in the night.I believe in connections to memories lost opening doors to future memories forming.Perfume, style, sensuality, desire, love, sex death. We scent our way through life.We should pause and inhale; these moments can be overwhelming transform us.The pursuit of elegance is lifelongWe are all cameras.We are all impressionable.Record Inhale ImprintMail me: everdandysilverfox@gmail.com

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